After a long hiatus, when I decide to pen down my travels again, it is a befitting occasion. After 2 long years, I am about to leave Philippines for good.
You'd say why coffee shop? Trying to be hip are we? :) ....nooooo....
My room had really dim light...those of you who saw me 2 yrs ago would know I did not wear glasses. This stay in the artistic room and the reading has given me a professorial look (if that is a word!!)
Coming back to the travelogue.... (seriously I need to control my overflowing thoughts!)...
So having spent most of the time in the office, hotel room and the coffee shop, I was but prepared to leave the country like that.
As it normally happens to me, I ended up with a chance to travel only towards the end of the trip. This time too was no different. One late evening in office and a late dinner at Jollibee (read KFC of Philippines) later, I concluded that mine was indeed a sad stay in a country that had so much beach time to offer! ...So on the contrary, I decided to hit the hills :)
Ya, if you close your eyes and think about Philippines, you imagine (the nature buffs....you dirty minds!!) white sand beaches, clear waters and malls. You would be surprised at where all I went...far from the sea (vertically I mean :) ).
So the two trips I took in a short span of 2 weeks (weekends only :(...I was not on a holiday you know!, were both in the winding roads of the mountains.
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| Winding roads to Tagaytay |
The first place I hit is called Tagaytay (a small town in a province of Philippines Cavite, not far from Manila). I landed in Manila in October 2010. That time, this was the first place we visited as a team outing, as the place with an active volcano around Manila. So when I was told there is a lot more to see in Tagaytay, I was a little skeptical. Anyways, even a repeat visit would be better than sleeping through the weekend, so I accepted the offer (what was there to lose :) )
As I am not a morning person, so I started at a comfortable 10 am, planning a lunch at a restaurant with a view of the volcano (that was about it for the volcano on this trip...a distant view).
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| Taal Lake |
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| Yum Tiramisu! |
Stuffed with hand made thin crust pizza and freshly made pasta, not to forget the fresh fresh Tiramisu!!, I proceeded to the next destination, the Galleria Taal, a camera museum setup by an avid collector of cameras, Manny Innumerable. The museum is housed in a restored residence of the collector himself, which started not long back in the year 2010 (talk about luck :)). While it is a small and quaint little house, the cameras sitting there were a treasure house of history. The museum houses almost 170 cameras (and growing!). What I captured in my eyes, you might want to read in the interview of Manny conducted by another traveller, and do visit the place on your next trip to Tagaytay (it's much more than an active Volcano :) )
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| Camera Museum |
http://traveleronfoot.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/galleria-taal/
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| Camera Museum |
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| Basilica se San Martin de Tours |
Next up in the trip was an ancient worn down church, Basilica de San Martin de Tours. Interestingly this worn down church is considered the largest church in the Philippines (and some say, in Asia). I stepped out of the car and was swarmed by children trying to sell candles and incense sticks (did they know, I had no idea how and when to use them?? :) ). Dodging the attack I entered the church through stairs which needed restoration, to find a wedding underway inside the church. My movie buff of imagination always thought that the church would be kinda of reserved for the wedding with no outsiders. However, this was nothing like it. Not only was general public allowed to roam in and around the church while the wedding proceeded, people were even allowed to stand by and witness the proceeding and click pictures. So those people getting married could end up on some random person's blog (like mine!!....so I won't upload their pictures!).
This church had a belfry on top of the church, the way to reach which was an obstacle course, so that only the dedicated ones could reach up. Okay that's not true...there was some restoration work going on due to which the climb to the belfry was more tedious than it should be. But yes, it did go through some really steep and dark stairs to reach the place.
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| Side View |
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| Belfry |
The view from the belfry was as interesting as the history attached to the same, but what rung in my ears (quite literally!!!) was the sound of the church bell! When you hear it from a distance (which is what I had ever done (until then), its a haunting melodious sound. But when you hear it standing right next to the bell...it is a tad difficult to get out of your system, cuz it shakes you from within!! (imagine the dark spiderman!...no wonder the stuff could not stick on to spiderman in the sound of the church bell...vibrate away your sins!!!)
So I somehow managed to climb down from the bell tower, and bidding farewell to the church and the newly wed couple, driving away in a cute canary yellow Beetle, I headed back to Manila. But wait a sec, I was hungry!!! So dinner was on the cards!!
I decided to have Burritos at an open restaurant with yet another view of the volcano, only this time it was too dark, and one would have needed night vision goggles to be able to see the volcano...
At this time let me remind you, that when the breeze at 1 PM was like that of November Delhi, just imagine the breeze at 7 pm!! ... December Delhi...yes...that's what. Suddenly Open restaurant didn't seem like a great idea! But it was too late...the order had been placed! So shaking like leaves and drowning myself in hot hot hot (everywhich ways) Tortilla soup, I downed the Burrito, and rushed to the warmth of the car...
Stopping enroute to buy me a Buko Pie (read coconut pie), I wound my way home (hotel in my case!), tired, sleepy and happy!
